Porous resilient bobbin



Oct. 21, 1952 J. ANNlcQ 2,614,764

POROUS RESILIENT BOBBIN Filed Feb. 28, 1951 2 SHEETS--SHEET l fv v51/TOR:

4Jaw/,71 /972722' BJ @y Oct. 21, 1952 1 ANNICQ POROUS RESILIENT BOBBIN 2 SHEETS--SHEET 2 Filed Feb. 28, 1951 INVE/VTR: Joseph /mz 'c HUUR/vir.-

Patented Oct. 21, 1952 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE Application February 28, 1951, `Serial No. 213,251

`In Belgium October 5, 1950 1l. Claims. 1

This invention relates to a porous resilient bobbin, spool `support or core upon which textile fibers, in the form of cheeses, cones or cakes of `thread Aor yarn, or rolls of cloth or piece goods, are wound in preparation for and during fiuid 'treatment of the fibers. More particularly it deals with an improved spring type of bobbin which is deformable or compressible in two different directions to compensate for elastic bers `and/or fibers which shrink or swell when Wet, `such as fibro, rayon, nylon, cotton, wool, flax,

and like fibers. y

Previously, spring Atype bobbins vwhich Were compressible axially or in one direction only, have been used, such as for example, like `the spool support described in Joseph Annicq U. S. Patent No. 2,158,889 issued October 14, 1937.

It is an object of this invention to produce a fsimple, effective, efficient and economic bobbin which is com-pressible both axially and radially.

Another objectis 'to produce such a bobbin which is, either cylindrical or frusto-conical, and is durable, long lasting and non-corrosive.

Another object is to produce such a bobbin which allows for the shrinking or swelling of yarns and/or cloth wound on it, without damaging the bobbin or obstructing the free passage of treating solutions through it and the fibers wound on said bobbin.

Another object is to produce a resilient bobbin which will permit loosening of the fibers at the center of the cake wound on said bobbin, so as to make the fibers softer and more permeable to treating solutions, as well as to permit easy removal of the bobbin from the roll of fibers Withoutrewinding the iibers.

Another object is to produce a Vskeleton core forming a spool for textile yarns and rolls of cloth, which automatically produces an ideal cheese, cake or roll having a soft center for uid treatment of cotton, wool and flax fibers with- `out employing` special adjustments for winding the yarn or cloth first loosely and then tighter on the bobbin.

Another object is to produce a spool support or bobbin having an expandable winding surface which will permit even thin and delicate yarns to be unwound therefrom easily to the last centimeter on the bobbin, without tangling or loss of any of the yarn near the ycenter' of the bobbin.

Still another object of this invention is to i1n prove the spring type spool support described in the above mentioned Annicq Patent No. 2,158,889 so vthat it is compressible radially as Well as axially.

In accordance with this invention, the bobbin is made of tWo wires vsufliciently springy to keep their shape; one in the form of a helical spring, or truncated icone, which acts as the base frame or supporting spring `for the bobbin, and the other, preferably a thinner or finer wire, which is wrapped loosely around each two adjacent turns of the helix of the base frame helical spring linking said turns together from one end of the base frame lspring to the other. Theselinks formed by the finer wire along each turn of the helix `are alternately looped around the next adjacent turn on one side and then the other side of said turn to form a resilient tube of interwoven wire. The difference between this form of 'bobbin and that described in the previously mentioned Annicq patent, is that the second and nner resilient wire is much more loosely wound around the turns of the base helical spring, to permit considerable radial movement of the links or loops of the finer wire toward and away vfrom the axis of the bobbin. Although the resiliency of the thinner Wire which links the turns of the ibase helical spring together, is suflicient to keep The above mentioned and other features and objects of this invention and the manner `oi attaining them will become more apparent, `and the invention itself will be best Vunderstood by reierence to the following description of a specific embodiment of the invention taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein: Fig. 1 is a side elevation of an embodiment of a cylindrical bobbin according to this invention, as it appears without deformation and before any threadis Wound thereon;

Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional View of acake wound on a bobbin of the type shown in Fig. 1 which bobbin is maintained in its expanded and normal form by a pair of mandrels inserted inside `said bobbin; i

Fig. 3 i-s a plan View of the cake shown inFig. 2 with the upper flange of the upper .mandrel shown in section `along line III-III in Fig. 2; Fig. 4 is a vertical sectional view, similar to Fig. 2, but with said mandrels removed, showing how the elasticity of the threads in the cake have radially compressed the bobbin;

Fig. 5 is a plan view of the cake shown in Fig. i illustrating how the contraction of the bobbin has loosened the threads near the center of the bobbin;

Fig. 6 is a vertical sectional View similar to Fig. 4 in which the cake and bobbin have been mounted on supports and axially compressed between twol other identical cakes, preparatory to iluid treatment of the cakes; and

Fig. 7 is a side elevation of a frusto-conical bobbin, according to another embodiment of this in vention.

Referring to Fig. 1, the base helical spring wire i@ has its two opposite ends welded or soldered to the next adjacent turn of the spring at IIV and I2, to form parallel annular ends for the bobbin perpendicular to the axis of said bobbin. At one of these ends, I I or I2, one end of the second and preferably thinner andiiner wire I5 is connected and then wrapped loosely around adjacent pairs of turns of the base helix spring I until the other end of thespring Ill is reached. The wire I5 forms links or loops l5 (see Figs. 2, 4 and 6) which are elongated and have substantially parallel sides bridging the distance between adjacent turns of the helix lil. These parallel sides are connected at their ends by broad U- shaped bends which sufliciently space apart said parallel sides to permit the loops It to be moved radially inwardly toward the axis of the helix Ill, thereby decreasing the normal outside diameter of the bobbin as shown in Figs. 4 and 5 as comparedy to the diameter shown in Figs. 2 and 3.

O-ne way of making the bobbins of this inven- .tion is to form the two wire springs lil and I5 in separate spring bending or forming machines, and then to thread (as shown in Fig. 2 of the above mentioned Annicq Patent No. 2,158,889) the larger and stier base helical spring I!) through overlapped alternate links of the flattened helical spring I (which may have turns of gradually decreasing diameter at one end for the reason vdescribed below). This method is only best used for forming the main and central part (and possible also one end) of the bobbin, that is, all but the last turn of the base spring Il! at one or both of its ends, in that the pitch of this last turn is decreased to zero by welding the ends of the spring' Ill at II and I2 to form parallel ends perpendicular to the axis of the bobbin. Accordingly, this last turn at each end of the base spring lll, requires a spring l5 of turns of gradually decreasing diameter at both its ends. But, since such a shaped spring is diilicult to thread onto a base spring Ii), only one and preferably neither end of spring I5 is made with turns of decreasing diameter, and only an uniform spring I5 is made for threading onto the central portion of the spring Iii. Then after this central portion of the wire I5 is in place, the ends of spring I are welded at I I and I2 and the remaining one or both ends of the spring lo are wrapped by hand with wire I5, either as an extension of the same wire forming the central part of the bobbin, or by a separate short length or lengths of wire connected to or at the ends of the wire I forming said central part of the body of the bobbin, so as to be substantially an extension of said main and central portion of the wire I5.

In order to illustrate the operation of the bobbin of this invention, reference is made to the use of a bobbin of the type shown in Fig. l for holding an elastic thread, such as nylon.

In Figs. 2 and 3 the bobbin of Fig. 1 has inserted into each end thereof mandrels 2Q and 2l in order to maintain its natural and expanded shape, and then while these mandrels are in place, the nylon thread is wound on the outside cylindrical surface of the bobbin formed by the interwoven links of the wire I 5. The mandrels 29 and 2I are shown to be cylinders with holes, such as 24 in mandrel 29, axially therethrough for the winding spindle (not shown) and with flanges 22 and 23, respectively, at one of their ends to rest against the ends of the bobbin.

After the cake 25 of nylon thread is wound on the bobbin, the mandrels 2l) and 2l are removed, and the natural elasticity of the' nylon thread compresses the bobbin, moving the links I6 axial-v ly inwardly to the position shown in Figs. 4 and 5. This movement loosens the windings of the central threads in the cake 26 of nylon thread as shown by the difference in shading between the sections of the cake in Figs. 2 and 4, and by the buckling of the threads at 2l in Fig. 5, so that the treating solution which is forced up through the center of the bobbin can easily pass between the links I8 and into the iibers of the cake to give an uniform treatment to all or" the iibers in the cake.

The cake 25 and its bobbin are now ready for fluid treatment, so it may be stacked with other identical cakes in a column by means of special bobbin supports Sii, such as shown in Fig. 6 and described in Annicq co-pending patent application S. N. 139,840, liled January 21, 1950. After these cakes are in position on a rod 3| they are axially compressed to prevent the treating solutions frorn passing between the cakes and not through them, and accordingly the cake of nylon is compressed to the form 28 shown in Fig. 6, and likewise the bobbin is longitudinally or axially oompressed so that U-shaped ends of the links I5 are spaced at both their ends from the turns of helix Ill, as shown. Thus Fig. 6 shows the bobbin of Fig. l deformed or compressed both axially and radially.

Fig. 7 shows a resilient bobbin according to this invention constructed on a frusto-conical helical base spring l@ (corresponding to spring IB -in Fig. 1) around adjacent turns of which is interwoven the link wire 'I5 (corresponding to wire I5 in Fig. 1). In this embodimentthe number of links around the larger diameter turns of the base spring l@ are greater than those around the smaller diameter turns of said spring li), which difference is gradually accounted for from one end of the base spring lil to the other, in a degree der pending upon the taper of the sides oi the bobbin or the ratio of the difference in the diameters of each turn of said base spring l.

In view of the two way flexibility of the bobbins of this invention, all types of shrinking or swelling bers may be uniformly treated, without affecting the passage of the treating liquids through the bobbins. Also the permeability of the cheese, cone, cake or roll of fibers being treated is increased. Such advantages are or" extreme importance in washing and dyeing rayon and rlbro and similar-,bers which swell when wet.

The wires of the bobbin of this invention may be coated or uncoated, and are preferably resilient which property is satised by an ordinary grade of hard wire. More preferably a stainless steel hard wire is used in order to resist corrosion by the treating solutions. rIhe mandrels 2@ and 2i may be made of any rigid ma.- terial, of either wood, metal or plastic, as desired, and they need not be non-corrosive, because they are not used in the treating solutions with the bobbin as the supports 30.

Although the cylindrical bobbin of Fig. 1 described above is about 16 centimeters long, both larger and smaller sized bobbins have been used for winding and fluid treating and dyeing brous materials from the finest of fibers and threads up to strips or sheets of cloth over a meter in width wrapped around bobbins of corresponding length and proportional diameters, and wrapped to proportional thicknesses of cloth corresponding to the material wrapped on the bobbin in Fig. 2.

Also the shape of the bobbin can be changed from cylindrical and frusto-conical as shown, to bobbins with irregular or curved profiles, without departing from the scope of this invention.

While there is described above the principles of this invention in connection with a specific embodiment thereof. it is to be clearly understood that this description is made only by way of example and not as a limitation to the scope oi' this invention.

What is claimed is:

l. A porous resilient bobbin for use in the textile industry, comprising a base helical spring n of several turns of wire, and a spring wire helically wrapped around each two adjacent turns of said helical spring for the full length of said helical spring forming llinks between said adjacent turns, said links having `broad U-shaped bends at their ends of an inside diameter greater than the diameter of the wire of said base spring whereby said links are enlarged -radially to the axis of said helical spring to permit their radial movement on said helical spring.

2. The bobbin of claim l wherein said helical spring and wire are non-corrosive.

3. The bobbin of claim 2 wherein said spring and wire are of hard stainless steel wire.

4. The bobbin of claim 1 wherein said helical base spring is formed of wire of a greater diameter than that of the diameter of said springy Wire.

5. A porous resilient bobbin for` use in the textile iiuid treating industry, comprising a helical metallic base spring of several turns, the ends of which are attached to the respective adjacent turns of said spring to form a hollow cylindrical shape with parallel fiat ends perpendicular to the axis of said spring, and a wire loosely wrapped around two adjacent turns of said helical spring from the attachment of one of said spring ends to the other, forming a helix of interlaced links between adjacent turns of said helical spring, said links being enlarged radially with respect to the axis of said helical spring to permit their radial movement on said helical spring, whereby a porous tube is formed which is compressible both radially and axially to said helical base spring.

`to the greatest inside diameter of said bobbin for insertion into said bobbin to maintain said greatest diameter during winding of threads thereon.

8. A skeleton core forming a spool for supporting textile yarns and the like and comprising a wire bent to form a multiplicity of continuously connected loops having relatively straight side portions and relatively wide bends at the ends of and connecting said sides, said multiplicity of loops being disposed in a helical form having a series of convolutions wherein the ends of the loops of each convolution overlap the oppositely disposed ends of the loops in the next adjacent convolution, and a second wire extending helical- 1y through the overlapping end portions of the loops, said wide bends at said end portions having a diameter several times greater than that of the diameter of said second wire threaded through said end portions.

9. The core of claim 8 wherein said second wire is of spring metal. l

l0. A skeleton for forming a spool for supportingtextile yarns and the like and comprising a wire bent to form a multiplicity of continuously connected elongated loops having relatively parallel sides connected at their ends by broad U-shaped bends, said multiplicity of loops being disposed in a helical form having a series of convolutions wherein the broad U-shaped bends of the loops of each convolution overlap the radially towards and from the axis of said core a distance over twice the outside diameter of said second wire.

11. The core of claim 10 wherein said second wire is of greater diameter than the first wire and lesser diameter than said broad U-shaped bends.

. JOSEPH ANNICQ.

REFERENCES CITED The following references `are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Name Date Annicq May 16, 1939 Number 

